Edible gifts are always popular at Christmas, especially if you've taken the time to make them yourself. Jams, chutneys and other preserves make great presents and can be made well in advance.

A nice gift idea is to make a selection and package them up in small jars.

Downloadable labels, wrapping and presentation ideas can be found in the labels section above.

I took a trip to Yorkshire last week and was given a massive bag of these giant cooking apples by my aunt, so they made the journey back to Herefordshire. Although rather like taking coals to Newcastle they were welcome as the tree in the garden has yet to produce anything like these.

Sometimes with chutney the temptation is to through a bit of everything in just to use up as many vegetables as possible. This courgette / marrow / green tomato / apple chutney being a good example.
This time I've decided to keep it simple and concentrate on just apples with a hefty helping of spices.

It's marrow time of year again, in the past I've made marrow and green tomato chutney. I enjoy growing marrows, they always remind me of beached whales as you find them washed up underneath the courgette leaves, finding something to do with them all is more of a problem.
Most years we're swamped with green tomatoes due to harvesting them all early when the blight takes hold, but this year our tomatoes didn't get blight so we're a bit short.
This recipe uses marrows and cooking apples, both of which are currently abundant, and a lot of fresh ginger, so should have quite a kick.

  See here for the marrow and ginger chutney recipe in more detail.

This year has been a bumper one for plums, and the tree in the back garden has produced more than we can cope with. Plum jam is a real treat and a very easy recipe to make, as it usually sets very well.
Use slightly under ripe plums for making jam, as they have higher pectin levels, save the ripe ones for eating.

Removing the stones from plum (or damson) jam can be a pain if left until the end of the jam making process when it tends to cause a hot sticky mess everywhere. When making this batch of jam I roasted the plums before hand and squeezed out the stones, a process explained in more detail in this blog post.

Gherkins (or small cucumbers) are easily grown in the garden, and can be pickled with a variety of flavours.

Ideally the cucumbers should be no more than 100mm in length, as they can start to develop bitter seeds if too large.

There seems to be some confusion as to when a gherkin becomes a gherkin. Is it a cucumber until it is pickled, or can you actually grow a gherkin?

Well, we've been growing them anyway and have been looking forward to preserving them all through the summer. They've been nice and easy to look after, although next time we may plant a few more plants so as to provide enough small cucumbers in one picking to fill more than one jar. The tendency this year has been to leave them to get a little on the large side before picking.

Pickling fruit like plums is a good way to preserve them into the winter months, when they can then be used to add fruitiness to meals such as roasts.

These pickled plums should not be confused with the Japanese Umeboshi, which are not actually plums but the ume fruit which is more closely related to the apricot.

image from fun.kyti.me

Sibylle at the fun.kyti.me blog has three pages of these great free downloadable labels, as well as some ideas for dressing up jars.

Strawberry jam is the classic, but the addition of gooseberries makes for a slightly tarter alternative. It's also a good way of increasing pectin levels, as gooseberries have a higher pectin content than strawberries.

I used frozen fruit for this jam, strawberries I'd picked from a fruit farm a few weeks earlier, and gooseberries from the garden. Both types of fruit had been prepared (hulled or top and tailed) then simmered for about 15 minutes before mashing with a potato masher and then frozen.
If you're pushed for time this can be a good way of spreading the jam making over a few days.

How to store jam is often a concern, and space can sometimes become an issue if several types are made.

The traditional advice is to store jam in a cool, dry, dark place such as a larder or cellar. In modern houses under the stairs, or in a garage or shady shed may be the best option.